Seen today

A baby snapping turtle

Goldenrod

A pretty moth on the Bidens

Fungi on Shady Ramble

Welcome!

A skipper takes me up on my welcome to all bees and butterflies.

A duskywing joins the other images on my welcome flag.

Herb Garden Construction Progress

These first two photos were taken on Saturday.

These photos were taken today, Tuesday.

'm 'm good

This morning everyone was out nectaring on the dandelions in the path around the meadows. This is an orange sulphur.

Swarthy skipper

Cabbage white

Honey bee, and also saw the sweat bee.

Duskywing

Here is a skipper on three

Nature Lesson for the Day

In the new meadow look for these two perennials blooming. This is Boltonia. Or come on the Meadow Walk on Friday at 10 and I will show them to you.

Common Sneezeweed Helenium autumnale

Flower fly, which is a bee mimic.

Sweat bee. This one is a bee.

Boneset Eupatorium perfoliatum

Fork-tailed bush katydid

Some Firsts in the Meadow

Bur-marigold Bidens aristosa. I finally saw 2 blooming in the front meadow.

New England Aster

Purple-stemmed aster. A real beauty!

Wild senna. Said to be a host plant for the silver-spotted skipper.

Evening Primrose. My first photo, as I never seem to get there early enough to see this one.

Soldier beetle. Not a first but a better photo.

Meadow Today

Blooming now is tickseed-sunflower, Bidens polylepsis.

Bidens polylepsis below, with a soldier beetle.

If this Bidens is blooming, why not our Bur-marigold. Bidens aristosa, which is in the new meadow.

Yellow bear caterpillar, which will be a Virginian Tiger Moth.

Pearl crescent

white face check

metallic-green eyes check

black and yellow striped thorax check

pale blue tapered abdomen check

Must be a male blue dasher.

Garden and Meadow

This is the sunflower that I will be counting bees on, but not ready to do it yet. But today I saw this green metallic bee on it. Hope they come back when I am counting.

Here is a pea - Don't you wonder where that came from? Wind or bird or whatever.

The book calls this a differential grasshopper, but I think there are a lot of those. He is just a grasshopper to me.

Here is some Vervain, which I think is "blue vervain", but blue vervain usually does not come in pink.

Here is a male twelve-spotted skimmer that I saw in the meadow. He posed for a photo, but saw a mated pair of pond skimmers that did not sit. He is blue and she is green, now wouldn"t that have been a great photo!

The Gift Box

The Gift Box at Foulkeways will be opening August 16th. It will specialize in gifts and hand made greeting cards. Be sure to stop in to buy and browse.

The Gift Box is located on Main Street between the Library and the Pharmacy.

The volunteers who will run the shop will be glad to help you select something for a favorite grandchild or "great".

Everyone loves butterflies and flowers.

The items for sale are very tastefully displayed.

Bee Duplex

The hives were dismantled, and then built up again with a double screen, between the two hives. The top hive will receive a new queen. Then we will have four hives.

This double screen will be placed between the hives to separate the bees and queens.

Building up again on top of the double screen.

The queen in her case ready to go into the top hive.

The queen case is placed in the top hive.

Two plus two equals four!